New Lake Country medical clinic to ease doctor shortage

The region's doctor shortage is expected to get some relief with the opening of a new medical clinic in Lake Country next month.

Turtle Bay Medical Clinic, located at #802-11850 Oceola Rd, includes an on-site IDA pharmacy and will offer both a family practice and walk-in appointments when it opens April 3.

In a time when clinics are closing because doctors are scarce, General Manager Kiffer Walker says they were able to attract doctors by doing things differently.

“The model that we have is basically that they will show up and all they have to do is focus on patient care, we will take care of everything else,” he says “So all the operations, all of the hiring and staffing and all that type of stuff, we take care of for them. They just show up and be a doctor, which is different than in a lot of clinics”

Walker says there will be 4 doctors when they first open, one of whom will work part-time, with plans to eventually have 6 full-time doctors.

Just how desperate the doctor shortage is in the area, is evident by how many people have already reached out to the clinic in hopes of becoming a patient. In the 2 weeks since announcing it is accepting new patients, 2,000 people have submitted a registration form.

“The response has been overwhelming to say the least,” Walker says “My wife is actually managing the intake of anybody who wants to be on the list and she receives anywhere between 30 and 40 emails everyday”

He says they will be accepting about 4,000 patients initially, with priority being given to Lake Country residents.